Govt non-committal on granting nationwide farm loan waiver

The government on Friday remained non-committal on whether to follow the erstwhile UPA dispensation's decision to grant a farm loan waiver across the country, after the Congress made the demand in Rajya Sabha.

The demand was put forth by Congress leader Anand Sharma during Question Hour while taking a dig at Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, who told another Congress member that he hoped Karnataka would follow Uttar Pradesh in announcing a loan waiver for its farmers.

Oscar Fernandes (Cong) had asked whether the Centre would announce a loan waiver for Karnataka which was suffering from severe drought.

"I hope the Karnataka government will also follow Uttar Pradesh on farm loan waiver," Singh told Fernandes in reply.

This prompted Anand Sharma to rise and ask "Why are you talking about a state? Will you as a central Minister and the Prime Minister follow the UPA in announcing a farm loan waiver for the entire country?"

Singh chose to avoid replying to this pointed question but merely said that during NDA rule, Karnataka had received a total central assistance to the tune of Rs 1.85 lakh crore from 2015-2020, against only Rs 67,000 crore from 2010-2015.

Amid a political war of words, Chairman Hamid Ansari said "I hope during the Question Hour, questions will be questions and answers will be answers, without a political debate."